CHINA SIGNS DEAL TO BUILD 1,000 SCHOOLS IN IRAQ

Mon 20 December 2021:

Iraq has signed agreements with two Chinese companies to build 1,000 schools in the country over the next two years, according to an Iraqi government official.

According to the official Iraqi News Agency, Hassan Mejaham, a housing ministry official, the country requires 8,000 schools to “address the education sector’s shortfall.”

Iraq’s infrastructure has been deteriorating for decades as a result of numerous conflicts and widespread corruption, despite its oil wealth.

Power China will build 679 schools, while Sinotech will build the remaining 321. The agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi on Thursday.

PM @MAKadhimi oversees the signing of contracts with the China to build 1,000 schools in Iraq, within the framework agreement between the two governments.
The Chinese side was represented by the Vice President of Power China and the regional director of Sinotech. pic.twitter.com/XlgrsYQGXH

— Government of Iraq – الحكومة العراقية (@IraqiGovt) December 16, 2021

According to Mejaham, the schools will be completed in two years, with the first being delivered a year after work begins “very soon.”

Iraq would fund the project with oil products, he continued.

In the second phase, 3,000 more schools will be built, followed by 4,000 more in the final phase.

UNICEF wrote on its website that “decades of conflict and underinvestment in Iraq have decimated what was once the region’s best education system,” adding that “one out of every two schools is damaged and requires restoration.”

In the country of 40 million people, “nearly 3.2 million school-aged Iraqi youngsters are out of school,” according to the report.

In October, the World Bank warned that the coronavirus pandemic would exacerbate already low levels of education, urging international investment in the sector.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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